1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a practice sports racket that is used to improve ones ability to hit the ball in the center of the racket. More specifically if the ball is hit in the center, it will rebound as a normal hit. If the ball is not hit in the center, hook fastener material on the surface of the racket and loop fastener material on the surface of the ball will contain the ball on the face of the racket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many devices in various sports such as tennis, racquet ball, squash and badminton that are designed to improve ones ability to obtain the maximum efficiency when striking the ball. One such device is a modified tennis racket in U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,958 to Piche such that one will feel a different vibration when the "sweet spot" makes contact with the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,935 to Gormley is very similar to Pecker except there is an aural indicator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,909 to Pecker describes an regular tennis racket that has some of the strings attached to force sensors in electronic circuitry. When the "sweet sport" is hit an audible sound will be emitted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,873 to Andreoli has the "sweet spot" eliminated and allows the ball to pass through the racket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,785 to Occhipinti et al utilizes a mask placed over the strings of a conventional tennis racket. Occhipinti fastens the mask in one embodiment with laced strings and in another embodiment with VELCRO.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,147 to Ping is a toy ball game set which utilizes fastening fabric on the ball and on one side of the racket. However, the opposite side of the racket is free of fastening material since the opposite side is used to rebound the ball. There is no training whatsoever since the "sweet spot" is also covered with fastening material and the ball will always be caught by the racket.
None of the above training devices utilize the hook fastener material bonded on the surface of the racket and the loop fastener material bonded on the surface of the ball.
What is needed is a training racket that allows the ball to rebound when the "sweet spot" area is utilized in rebounding and a penalty is incurred when the ball is hit off center by having the ball caught by the material on the racket. The present invention also utilizes the same configuration on both sides of the racket to train for back hand strokes as well as foreward strokes.